so far i'm memorizing satipatthana and practicing it. i practice jhana meditation as described in the suttas and other books. and i live according to the precepts and eightfold path as much as possible. from my studies this should be appropriate. morality, concentration and wisdom.

but there are so many other things in the suttas! metta, sublime abidings, anapanasati as it's own complete practice, and so on. how do i know if i'm doing enough or should be doing something else?

is there some way i could find a teacher online? are there any temples that have monks online to answer questions?

EDIT: i'm poor, poor, poor. retreats and travel are not an option.

Last edited by alan... on Wed Jan 02, 2013 11:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.

You might also consider a residential retreat. Most Lay centres charge an up-front cost for use of the facility, but at Monasteries (at least in my experience) or the Goenka centers http://www.dhamma.org/ there is no up-front cost, only a donation of what you can afford.

You might also consider telling us what area you live in, and someone here may have some local information that isn't readily available via Google, phone books, or the World Buddhist Directory http://www.buddhanet.info/wbd/

I don't know what you're into, but here's course which gives brief overview of each tradition.

In addition, the practices themselves will be different, as Rinpoche has stated that he would like to develop Dharma Das in a way that includes aspects from many traditions of Buddhism, including Theravada, Zen, Shingon etc.

I am alone too.I have no teacher,buddhist groups or temples, as well but i learn a lot through borrowing Buddhist Books in the Library i borrowed the Dhammapada. I also systematically learn Buddhism through a guided online resource such as Buddhanet and Access to Insight.There is a lot of resources available online.There's also good guidelines on Anapanasati,audio materials too. I incorporate it into my daily practice,take notes,study and analyze it.But most importantly keep the precepts,and meditate.Then ofcourse there's dhammawheel,a good way to test your knowledge is to post on the Discovering Theravada forum if the moderators approve then you know your on the right track ahaha.

alan... wrote:none are in my area. i have no realistic hope of getting a teacher.

that being said:

what do i do? how do i decide on what practices i do?

so far i'm memorizing satipatthana and practicing it. i practice jhana meditation as described in the suttas and other books. and i live according to the precepts and eightfold path as much as possible. from my studies this should be appropriate. morality, concentration and wisdom.

but there are so many other things in the suttas! metta, sublime abidings, anapanasati as it's own complete practice, and so on. how do i know if i'm doing enough or should be doing something else?

is there some way i could find a teacher online? are there any temples that have monks online to answer questions?

He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that. His reasons may be good, and no one may have been able to refute them. But if he is equally unable to refute the reasons on the opposite side, if he does not so much as know what they are, he has no ground for preferring either opinion … ...He must be able to hear them from persons who actually believe them … he must know them in their most plausible and persuasive form.John Stuart Mill

I am alone too.I have no teacher,buddhist groups or temples, as well but i learn a lot through borrowing Buddhist Books in the Library i borrowed the Dhammapada. I also systematically learn Buddhism through a guided online resource such as Buddhanet and Access to Insight.There is a lot of resources available online.There's also good guidelines on Anapanasati,audio materials too. I incorporate it into my daily practice,take notes,study and analyze it.But most importantly keep the precepts,and meditate.Then ofcourse there's dhammawheel,a good way to test your knowledge is to post on the Discovering Theravada forum if the moderators approve then you know your on the right track ahaha.

we're in the same boat! that's mostly what i do as well. you sound like you're on the right track for sure. what kind of meditation do you do?